The head of the U.S. Department of Labor division in charge of wages today urged the nation's mayors to help raise the federal minimum wage to support American families.

“At the heart of it all is that working must pay off," David Weil, administrator of the DOL's wage and hour division said at the U.S. Conference of Mayors committee meeting in Dallas. "People all over the country are asking themselves: Do I buy a gallon of milk or a gallon of gas?”

The Jobs, Education and the Workforce Committee approved a resolution to raise the federal minimum wage from $7.25 an hour to $10.10 an hour.

"No one who works full time in America should have to raise their families in poverty," Weil said. The federal minimum wage today is worth 20 percent less than in the 1980s, he said.

As U.S. productivity has increased, wages have not kept pace. A full-time worker making minimum wage makes about $15,000 a year, which is 17 percent below the federal poverty level, Weil said.

Some businesses are concerned about the impact of a higher minimum wage, there’s an increasing support for it raising it as a way to attract and retain workers, decrease employee turnover and increase productivity. As more businesses support a raise and more cities and states pass their own wage increases, it puts pressure on Congress to act, Weil said.

Today, 22 states and Washington, D.C., have minimum wages that exceed the federal rate. In addition, more cities, such as Seattle, are raising their minimum wages.

A discussion among 30 or so mayors at the committee meeting focused on minimum wages and living wages, especially as it relates to government contract workers.

Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings wanted to know more about city ordinances mandating minimum wages for contractors. Such statutes are similar to the executive order signed in March by President Barack Obama to raise the hourly minimum wage to $10.10 for federal contractor workers.

St. Louis Mayor Francis G. Slay said his city has a living wage ordinance (at 130 percent of the poverty level, or $12.37 with benefits) for contractors with the city and “its’ been working very well.”

Former pro basketball star Shaquille O'Neal was supposed to attend the committee meeting, but he failed to appear.